12/14/2015
Martin (Against the Tide) introduces the members of Seattle’s Brodie Operations Security Services (BOSS) in a choppily told romantic thriller about the fierce protectiveness that the strong, handsome heroes feel toward beautiful, complicated women. After the high-class models of LaBelle Lingerie receive threatening notes that escalate to an actual murder, Ethan Brodie takes on the 24/7 protection of model Valentine Hart. The two quickly ignore BOSS’s no-fraternization rule under the pressures of close proximity and strong attraction. Martin draws her characters with little moral ambiguity. Her reliable men of action put themselves out to take care of their families while saving their women from villains and sleazeballs; the women worry about the dangerous nature of BOSS’s work, but fidelity is never in doubt. Plot shifts and revelations are unsatisfyingly abrupt for those whose focus is on the mystery side of the story, and the lack of repercussions for breaking the company’s rules leaves the reader with a sense that the story has been streamlined at the expense of reality. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM. (Feb.)
This week’s Romance Roundup includes a hunky journalist in need of some good food, daughters intent on avenging their mothers, and people just doing their best to save the universe.